Here is a quiet sky with nothing falling 
but the leaves, here we have houses,
bread (for now). We don’t know
the gift we have received.
Elsewhere people scan the sky for daily death,
pray for a night’s respite, a sister’s life. 
There is no god to answer human prayer,
to stop the fire, falling 
since the start of our human story. 
The lucky ones, exhausted
just to read what others live,
click other links, turn their eyes 
to other stories, other sport. The dead
are dead and cannot speak in court.

Anja Konig grew up in the German language and now writes in English. Her first full collection Animal Experiments, from Bad Betty Press, was nominated for the Laurel Prize. Her pamphlet Species was published by Bad Betty Press in 2022.

The Peace Sonnet Chain, originated by the website New Boots and Pantisocracies, is a set of fourteen sonnets by different poets on the theme of Peace, each beginning with the last line of the previous one. It can be found online at https://newbootsandpantisocracies.wordpress.com/2024/02/14/introducing-the-peace-sonnet-chain/ and is available as a pamphlet published by Whaleback City Press.